The present invention relates to apparatus for producing material by a chemical reaction between a first chemical reagent and a second chemical reagent, including a chemical mixing arrangement having a mixing chamber and injection means configured to produce a jet of a first chemical reagent and a jet of a second chemical reagent such that said jets collide within said mixing chamber to produce a reacting mixture.
Apparatus is disclosed in the applicants earlier patent application, published as GB 2 394 216 A, in which chemical reagents are mixed at a high rate of mixing and temporarily stored in a storage chamber. The mixture is then dispensed from the storage chamber at a lower rate by movement of a dispensing piston.
One problem with the known apparatus is that the amount of material that may be temporarily stored and dispensed is limited by the size of the storage chamber.
A second problem is that the rate of dispensing the stored mixture is limited by the maximum speed the dispensing piston can move.
A third problem relates to the fact that the storage chamber is sealed during mixing of reagents. Consequently, when the storage chamber is produced by retracting the dispensing piston a vacuum is formed in the storage chamber. In some cases, this can have undesired effects on the physical properties of the mixture and therefore the final product.